Renée A. Ransom

Renée Ann Ransom blessed and brightened the lives of her parents in
November of 19?? on morning of the 9th day
of that month. She was such a cute little thing, with dark brown eyes and
that long dark hair that I like so much. We could not agree on a name for
her, because we had so many choices. The husband of Helen's hospital roommate
thought it would be wrong to leave the hospital without a name, so he offered
to make the choice for us. We agreed to give it a try, so he chose the name
Renée. Since I consider my daughters princesses, for such they are
in the eternal realm of things, the name Renée worked out great. It
literally translates to 'princess' in several languages.

Renée started her school career in preschool in Pahrump, Nevada.
We had a neighbor with a daugher the same age as Renée, and they were
almost inseperable. At one time Renée even went so far as to sit outside
on the steps of the kindergarten because Mickey was not in class that day,
and Renée did not want to go in without her. Once she started into
elementary all that changed. She really liked school, and did well in her
classes.

We moved to Grantsville, Utah, and then to West Valley City, Utah while
Renée was in elementary school. In those two places, we lived within
blocks of the schools, so she walked to school with friends. She had a bad
teacher in the second grade, so she missed out on a lot of things she needed
to know to continue school, and has had to work especially hard for the rest
of her education. She has kept plugging away at it, and it is coming together.

When Renée was in Middle School, we moved to Texas. It was in that
school that she decided she would like to play the flute in the school band.
She learned it well and became an accomplished flautist. She played in the
symphonic and marching bands all through high school, and even on occasion
we can now get her to play for us.

Renée spent most of her working career in daycare, with a few short
forays. One foray was into being a teacher's aid for handicapped students.
She worked with a couple autistic kids, and really developed an appreciation
for them.

Another foray was into women's fashions. She liked that occupation, but
the way the store was managed finally got to her, and she went back into
daycare.

She got burned out on daycare, and went to work for Deseret Book, and
really enjoyed that. It is a good environment, especially for a young lady,
and the people are so very nice to work with. She had planned to spend
the next year in the Dallas store and then transfer, but Deseret Book sold
it's Dallas store to a local LDS bookstore company. That made the transfer
a little quicker than had been planned. She was planning to transfer to
St. George, and enroll in Dixie
College to study photography. She loves to take pictures, and I believe
will be a very good photographer. She is currently taking some photography
classes through correspondence, and is learning a lot about the mechanics
of photography.

Renée has changed her plans and moved to Logan, Utah, where
she is planning to work for a year or two to get Utah residency,
then go to Utah State
University. They have a great photography department, according
to all the reports we could find. Right now she is working at TJ Maxx
in Logan. She enjoys her work and likes her co-workers.

Renée has become acquainted with some of her cousins since
she moved to Utah, and is really enjoying their friendship. She has
always been one who likes to be around friends and family, and since
she is now close to some of her extended family, she likes it very
much.

(May 2004) She called her parents with some good news. She was
just given a full-time position with TJMaxx. That will help with
some of the expenses of living, plus give her insurance and vacation
benefits, and they will help her with education. She has decided she
likes retail sales, so she is looking into studying something that will
help her advance in that career. She should be able to get some good
classes in that at Utah State University.

(March 2005) Renée has gone to work for one of the cheese factories in the
Logan area, and has since left TJ Maxx. They were cutting her hours and requiring
her to work weekends, and she did not appreciate all that. She is looking into
schooling at Stevens Heneger Business College in the Logan area. I think it would
be a good move for her to continue her education.

For some reason she still likes Logan, and it appears she will do almost anything
to stay there. Maybe it is because it is not a great big city, but still within
decent driving time to one. Also, she is in driving range of several of her
cousins, aunts and uncles, and can see them when she wants.

(August 2005) News of Renée. She has had to have foot surgery to have a
bunion removed. It put her in a position that she could not work in the cheese factory
for a while (could not wear steel-toe boots), so she has had to leave her job. She
did find one at the Utah State University Bookstore, though, so she is still able to have
an income of sorts. The only drawback, it is a temporary position. She has, however
interviewed with another store, and it looks good for going to work there. She is not
sure she wants to go back to retail. She got kind of burned out at TJ Maxx.

The good news is that she has registered at USU for the spring term, so she will
be going back to school.

(15 January 2006) School has finally started for Renée. She is taking
enough classes to keep her busy, and working full time for the cheese processing plant
and part time (for a little while longer) at the USU bookstore. Her class schedule
is pretty good about getting breaks to study, so she should be okay.

She says that there are quite a few people her age group (older than 19) going
back to college now, so she does not feel out of place with all the teeny-boppers. That
makes it easier to fit in. She is enjoying her classes and enjoying being back in
school. We wish her the best in her studies.

(March 2007) Renée was able to spend her spring break visiting her sister's
family in Hawaii. It appears they all had a good time. She was able to spend about
a week getting to know her neices that she doesn't get to see very often. I think the
little girls liked having another aunt around for a while. Most of all, I think
Renée needed the break from school and work — and Logan. She was able
to see that the temperature in parts of the world still get to be over 50 degrees.

(May 2007) Mom and Dad were able to go to Logan to spend the Mother's Day weekend
with Renée. She had just moved into a house by herself (no more roommate
problems), and we got to see it. It is a cute little thing, with a living room with a
fireplace, dining room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms and a bath. It is an older house, probably
built in the 1930's or 40's. We think she will like it.

(June 2007) Renée got a 3-day weekend, so she came to visit her Dad for
Father's Day. It was good to have her here. We had a couple of days together
before Helen got back from Finland, and it was quite nice. We didn't do much
other than hang out together and relax a lot. Then after Helen got back we went
out and watched the laser show and fireworks at
Stone Mountain, a
big old piece of granite (the park covers some 3200 acres) sticking up out of
the Georgia landscape. It was a lot of fun, and a really good show. Then she
had to go back home and back to the old grind. She said she had fun, and it was
good to get away and relax for a little while.

(November 2007) Mom and Dad got to spend some time with Renée over the Thanksgiving holiday this year. It was good to be able to spend some time with her, even though part of the time she had to work. She got the Thursday and Friday off. We had to leave Friday, though, to be to a friend's sealing in Georgia. That was all right, though. The weekend after Thanksgiving is the busiest travel time of the year, and being standby on the airlines is not a lot of fun at that time.

(February 2008) Renée went in for knee surgery in the first part of February. They did some extensive repair, and hopefully fixed the problem that has bothered her all her life. The doctor and physical therapist all say she is making good progress in becoming well, so that is the good news. She will be out of commission for a while, though. When I last talked to her, she was happy and feeling pretty good. I believe she wil be okay, and will overcome any and all problems. One of the things most admirable about Renée is that she is solid and steadfast. Once she makes up her mind to do something, she will stay with it until it is done. And she has made up her mind she will get better, so there is no doubt she will.

(14 July 2009) Renée went with Mom and Dad to the Ransom family reunion on Saturday, the 11th of July, and mom and dad are very thankful that she did.

She is living in the basement apartment of a street in one of the canyons in Logan. We found out when we got back to Logan that at about the time we left Blackfoot, there was a canal collapse above her house, and the area was flooded. We were able to get in to her place and get her car from the driveway, but that was all she tried. A couple of houses away a house was leveled and 3 people killed by the mudslide. That made us very thankful that Renée was with us on that day. I think she is still staying with some friends. I haven't talked to her for a couple of days, so am hoping all is okay. The area has been evacuated due to instability in the ground.

(15 September 2009) We finally got Renée moved out of Utah. She is now living in Grapevine, Texas with her mother. Mom was transferred to Dallas to work, so got an apartment since Dad was committed to staying in Atlanta for a while. One of her friends went to Salt Lake City and drove down with her. They had a good time on the road, but hit rain a lot of the way. Anyway, they made it safely. That is the important part. Now to find gainful employment. Hopefully it will not take long, and the wages will be higher than Logan.